A Girl’s Survival Guide to Home
by LostRainbow, HSM guest contributor
I am not a stranger to Massively Multiplayer Online games; I have been playing them for the past seven years. I don’t consider Home to be a true MMO, but it is a wonderful social gaming experience similar to an MMO.
When I first started playing online games, I didn’t know what to expect — but over the years, I’ve grown to love playing them and have learned a lot. If you are a girl who plays Home, do you find it impossible to go in public places and not get bombarded by men — probably boys — telling you they love you, they want to date you, asking you your age and where you are from? This makes playing online games a trying and frustrating experience. When this happens to me, I can basically make up anything and they believe what I say, because after all while I tried to make my avatar resemble me, she has a much better figure and looks younger than I do! But how do they really know the real me and how can they say they want to date me? Do they just want to date my avatar? Are some men on Home looking for girlfriends and for love? Sometimes going to public spaces on Home can be a real hassle to a girl. Well, I’ve come up with some winning tips to help you have a more enjoyable time on Home when you don’t want to be bothered but want to explore a new public space, go shopping in the mall or work on a quest.
1) Create a gender-neutral name/have a sub-account. Being that my name is LostRainbow, this doesn’t always help me out, but I have a sub-account with a gender-neutral name that does. So if you want to do an activity on Home you can always change your avatar into a male since you have several slots to design an avatar, or you can switch to a sub-account. You can than go and explore and you will probably be left alone. On occasion I have gone to The Hub as LostRainbow, the guy, with pink writing over my head — and I was not approached at all. I was actually seeing if women might approach me, but nobody said a word.
2) Dress not to impress. Don’t wear something revealing, and cover your whole body in clothing. Even wear one of those weird costumes or animal heads. I am sure people will steer clear of you! I happen to own several bikinis and my avatar has an amazing figure, but I wouldn’t dare go in a public space with it on because I would be immediately hassled. I save it for hanging with friends in private spaces. A little common sense goes a long way in this department.
3) No hable ingles.
4) Be nice. Remember, Home is a social game. Sometimes I feel bad when the person really wants to be your friend. I am generally a nice person and I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings so I do from time to time accept the friendship. If they are nice and don’t start playing 20 questions, I don’t mind hanging out with them. However if they start to get overly personal or inappropriate when I don’t really know them, what I do is block the player and remove them from my friend list and they get the hint.
5) Have fun. Don’t let the trolls get you down. If you’re the kind of person that is easily upset by this, then online games may not be right for you. You need to rise above it and keep to the big picture. It’s just a game, after all.
With a little perseverance you will eventually get lucky and find the right people to be friends with. In my own case, I initially thought I could be who I wanted to be and who would really know the real me. After a while, if you spend a lot of time hanging out, you start saying, “Hey, I really like this person. I would love to know them outside the game.” But when can you actually say, “I think I trust this person and I want to tell them more about me and my personal life?”
Well, it’s hard. Many online games are very strict about people giving out personal information, and that’s probably a good idea until you have an established friendship with the person. Don’t give out personal info, where you live, your phone number or that you are home alone. You never know whom you are really dealing with. It’s crazy and scary, but trust your gut instinct. I was very lucky to have found some true friends on my first MMO, and ever since then we have played several together. These people are my gaming friends and I enjoy spending time with them. It took me a really long time to open up about myself, and in the end I’m glad I did. But honestly, really make sure you are careful. If you are lonely or looking for love, I am not sure finding it on Home or another MMO is the answer. That being said, I know it could happen and I have seen it happen firsthand. However, as your parents always said, “Don’t talk to strangers!”
If you happen to get lucky and find a friend you can really get to know and trust, then that’s a plus. It doesn’t have to be someone of the opposite sex or even someone in the same country. You can hang and enjoy each other’s company — but mostly, enjoy your time on Home and have fun! Although it’s a game that can be tough for a girl, it is also a game with many rewards. Use common sense, have fun and don’t take everything so seriously.
March 16th, 2012 by LostRainbow | 12 comments
LostRainbow is a Guest Contributer to HSM. She is also an online gaming veteran and a professional private beta tester who lives in New York City. She will hopefully someday find The Rainbow Connection.
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Is it wrong that I troll the crap out of the male avitars that flock to female avis?
This was a fantastic article that deals with some heavy problems, yet keeps a great sense of humor. I just dealt with a similar issues when I was “under cover” as a n00b doing research for an article here at HSM. I got to be honest I have read about it before, but to experience getting hassled first hand is a real eye opener. I can see a survival guide whole series here! Great Read!
I love that idea: “No habla ingles”
Wow, nice article. I agree and have come to many of the same conclusions as you, being a girl in Home. I also made a secondary male account so I can be left alone when I really tire of being harassed. I was pretty naive when I first came to Home and made my avi name to “female.” LOL Oh well, lessons learned! Nice job!
One night, I “dressed up” in one of the reward outfits from Aurora and idled on the Central Plaza bench for a while. It’s amazing how many come-on lines I received while dressed like a fantasy boat. My name is a dead giveaway for a female but I never figured out if they were more attracted to my bow or my stern.
LOL
I find that just commenting that for all they know I’m male makes some guys run… and makes me laugh. When they’re persistent I sometimes tell them I’m 45, weigh 350 pounds and live in my mother’s basement… which I have all to myself, except when she needs to do laundry.
LOL!!! I love it!!! :):)
The cheekster has many female friends on Home, and it’s a pain even for ME to hang out with them, with the constant barrage of trolls invading space getting in between us all and just talking nonsense. But ONE of those friends of mine has a male avi, that wears a flowery shirt and carries a purse, she changes into that if she’s feeling pressured and watches as her tormentor backs off FAST. Very funny scenario. But really I don’t see why you SHOULD have to break into a disguise to go anywhere. On another MMO, (Secondlife) I have a beautiful virtual Wife, Yes, her avatar is Gorgeous, in RL she is an older, average woman, but she’s still beautiful to me. And we always make each other laugh. It took us 2 years to open up to each other about RL stuff. And YES I do trust her. With my life. Love is possible anywhere. But on a virtual world. It takes time. But it’s worth it
Beautiful story!!!:)
So, last night, Terra and I were out dancing. OceanicCactus drops by, wearing one of those stuffed-animal dog outfits. We hang out and chat.
Then some doorknob comes running up to OC and dances in his face, wanting to have a hot St. Patrick’s Day evening with a giant puppy. So OC changes into his Homeling uniform.
“WTF!!!” the guy exclaims, and runs off.
Evidently some people prefer furry quadrupeds over humanoid bipeds. Go figure.
Either way, score one for the Collective.
That is hysterical!! Whatever floats your boat I guess!!!